Rotary internal-combustion engine.



B. POULSON.

ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE. APPLICATION lflLED DEC-26,19II.

1,210,361. Patented Dec. 26,1916.

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Iflll fzsm'mw 211230 B. POULSON.

ROTARY INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED 050.26, 19H.

Patented Dec. 26,1916.

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LPIIQBGL TTE STATE PATENT FETCH...

BBITTON POULSON, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, .TO

EDWARD W. ROGERS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 26, 1916.

Application filed December 26, 1911. Serial No. 667,995.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BRITTON PoULsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have. invented a new and useful Rotary Internal-Combustion Engine, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to rotary engines having radially sliding wings mounted on an eccentric hub within a shell or casing and the objects of my improvements are, first, to provide means whereby the engine may rotate in either direction; second, to afford novel means for moving the wings radially; third, to increase the surface pressureon the power side of the wings; fourth, to arrange means whereby a close fit is assured between the wings and the shell; fifth, to make a very compact, strong and efiicient motor and other features to become apparent from the description to follow.

A successful rotary motor or engine is very desirable for use on self-propelled vehicles for the reasonthat it can be started without cranking and without the necessity of a starter and my invention is designed to fulfil that requirement.

To describe my invention so that others versed in the art to which it pertains can make and use the same I have .illustrated the same on the accompanying two sheets of drawings in which Figure 1, is a side elevation of a rotary engine embodying my invention, Fig. 2, is an edge elevation of the. same, Fig. 3, is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2, Fig. 4, is a sectional view taken on line 4.-4 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4, showing the construction of the wings.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The casing of the engine comprises an inner shell 6 and an outer shell 7 between which is provided a water jacket 8' for cooling the engine by admitting water at 9 and exhausting it at 10. The central portion of 11 of the casing is cylindrical "in form and has its open ends closed by the caps 12 and 13 which are secured by means of bolts 14. Within the casing is mounted a circular hub 15 rigid on the shaft 16 which is mounted eccentrically in the casing to rotate in suitable bearings 17 so that the hub 15 will bein constant contact with the inner shell 6 at the top as seen in Figs. 3 and 4.

Mounted to slide in suitable radial slots 18 provided in the hub 15 are the wings 19. The outer'free ends of the wings 19 are constantly held in contact with the inner shell 6 by means of suitable lugs or pins 20, which are rigidly secured to the edges of the wings 19, extending into the groove 21 formed in the adjacent surfaces of the ends 12 and 13, which groove is made concentric with the bore of the cylinder portion 11. Thusit is clear that when pressure fluid is admitted into the top of the casing to the right of the center line as viewed in Fig. 3, the hub 15 With the wings 19 and shaft 16 will rotate, clockwise and if the pressure fluid is admitted into the top of the casing to the left of the center line, the rotation of said parts will be counterclockwise. Since the wings 19 are made to fit snugly in the slots 18 I prefer to provide the air passages 22 near the shaft 16 connecting the inner ends of the slots 18 to avoid'the suction and compression of air in the slots 18 due to the movement of the wings 19 in the same.

An inlet port 23 for the admittance of fuel oil and another port for the admittance of air are provided in the portion 11 of the casing at suitable distances either side of the center line at the top as seen in Fig. 3; the ports on the right hand side are used to drive the shaft 16 clockwise and. the ports on the left hand side are used to drive the shaft 16 in a counterclockwise direction. The fuel oil, such as gasolene, and the air are injected intothe engine casing through the pipes 24 and 25 respectively under pressure and together form a combustible fuel within the shell 6 behind a wing 19, so that if the same is ignited by means of a sparking plug 26 the resulting explosion or burning of the combustible fuel will with great energy force the wing 19 and therefore the shaft 16 around on its axis.

-To control the direction of rotating of the shaft 16, suitable valves 27 are provided between the supply pipes 24 and 25 and their respective cotiperating ports leading into the interior of shell 6, which are connected by means of the arms 28 secured to that when the valve 27 on the right hand side as viewed in Figs. 1 and 3 is open the valve 27 on the left hand side is closed and vice versa: and a central position of the said valves and connecting rod-will bring both valves to a closed position. 1

To operate the valves 27, I connect the connecting rod 29 by a link 30 to an operating lever 31 fulcrumed at 32 and provided with the customary spring pressed latch 33 to take into the notched segment 34.'

One poleof the electric sparking plug 26 is connected to the casing of the engine and the otherpole is electrically connected by wire 35'to the brush 36 which is "arranged to consecutively make connection with the contacts 37 rigidly mounted on the shaft 16. The contacts 37 are electrically connected to the annular band 38, against which the contact spring 39 constantly bears. lhe spring 39 is connected by means of wire 40 to one pole of a source of electric current 41 and the other pole of said course of electric current is connected by wire 42 to the casing of the engine thus completing the electric circuit back to the sparking plug 26. Since the position of the firing chamber for each rotation of the engine 2'. e., clockwise and counterclockwise, is different and the sparking plugs 26 are located accordingly, each of said, sparking plugs is connected to different brushes 36 so as to have the spark properly timed for the operation of the engine, and since only. one brush 36 is necessary at a time I preferably mount both brushes on a beam 43 pivotally mounted at 44 to the -cap l2 and arrange one branch 45 of said beam. with an offset which lies between two extensions 46 provided on connecting rod 29. These parts are so arranged that when the operating lever 31 is moved to open the valve 27 which causes the shaft 16 to rotate clbckwise the brush 36 which is connected to plug 26 which coiiperates with said valve will be brought into electric connection with the contacts 37 and the other brush 36 will be moved to a position out of contact with said contacts 37.

The-explosions or burning of thecombustible charge as previously referred to takes place within the inner shell back of a wing 19 and forces said wing around in itspath until said wing reaches a position opposite the exhaust opening 47 at the bottom of the casing through which the remaining force of the explosion will pass.

The inner wall of the innershell is extended outward for some distance at them takes 23 toform an explosion chamber 48 and the hub 15 has a depression 49 immediately in frontof each wing 19 so 3.51m increase the capacity of the explosion chamber and also expose a larger area of eachwing 19 when the shaft 16 is rotating clock- W1se asviewed in Fig. 3. Y

To have the edges of the wings 19 fit more closely to the inner shell 6 and thus prevent leakage at their junction I provide a groove in the three edges of each wing 19 into which are fitted the rectangular bars 51. The bottom of each groove 50 is connected by suitable holes '52 with one side of the wings so that as the shaft 16 is driven clockwise the fiuid pressure bearing against the side of the wing will enter .the holes 52 and force the bars 51 tightly against the inner shell 6, see Fig. 5.

Since the pressure in the explosion.chamber 48 at the time of ignition is considerably greater than the pressure in the supply pipes 24 and 25 I provide the check valves 53 in the supply pipes adjacent the valves 27.

contacts 37 First, the'motor or wings will be driven around by reason of the pressure from the fuel supply source entering the explosion chamber, and as soon as ignition takes place the engine will.,be working at its full capacity providing the valve.27 is retained in'its wide open position. Any desired speed may be attained by throttling at the valve27 provision being made for this by providing lost motion between the extensions 46 on connecting rod 29 and the branch 45 of beam 43. A spring 54 being connected to the beam 43 to constantly hold against the contacts 37 whichever brush 36 hasbeen moved into connection with said contacts. There being four wings 19, there will be four explosions for every revolution of shaft 16.

' It will be understood that changesmay the scope of my invention.

Having thus fully described myinvention what, I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In adevice of the class described, a

suitable frame provided with an interior circular chamber, a hub rotatably mounted v at ter and provided with an electric contact brush at each free end, a rotatable electric contact member to cooperate with said electric contacts on the beam and means whereby the valves on the intake ports are operated simultaneously with the rocking of the beam whereby the engine can be made to run in either direction.

2. In a device of the class described, a suitable frame provided with an interior circular chamber, a hub rotatably mounted within said circular chamber arranged to engage the top of said chamber and provided with a plurality of radial slots, a suitable wing fitted to slide in each of said slots, communicating passages connecting the bottom of said slots so that the air in lower ends of the slots is free to pass from one slot to another as the wings slide in and. out of said slots, a groove in the edge of each wing, a metal packing bar fitted into each of said grooves and passageways leading from the bottoms of said grooves to one side of the wing so that pressure fluid applied to one side of said wing will force the packing bars in the grooves outward against the surface of the circular chamber.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in presence of the subscribing witnesses, this 21st day of December, 1911, at Chicago, Illinois.

BRITTON POULSON.

Witnesses:

R. J. JAcKER, v M. J. MGKENDRY. 

